August 11th GOP Debate participants being finalized

We’re just a few short days away from the August 11th Republican debate in Ames, Iowa. The debate organizers have released a list of candidates which are invited to attend and some information on the debate surrounding the debate of whether former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson will be invited or not.

There’s some uncertainty swirling about the line up for the GOP primary debate, to be held in Iowa on Aug. 11, according to a series of releases sent out today.

A statement sent out by The Examiner, which is partnering with the Iowa GOP and Fox for the debate, provided a final line-up for the debate.

However, according to rules voted on by the state party’s central committee, candidates have until Aug. 9 to meet the requirements which include being registered with the FEC, meeting U.S. Constitutional Requirements and a one percent showing in five national polls.

Two candidates who failed to land a spot in the last GOP debate, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer were not included on the list provided by The Examiner. Michigan Rep. Thaddeus McCotter was also not included.

Elizabeth Renda, a spokeswoman for the Johnson campaign, said the campaign has been in close contact with the debate organizers, who told Johnson they will reach a final decision on the line-up on Aug. 9.

Two hours after the initial release went out, The Examiner corrected the information:

“Eight candidates have qualified for the debate so far: Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Jon Huntsman. The deadline for meeting the criteria for participating in the debate is 5 p.m. EST on Tuesday, August 9.”

Of course, the “prize” coming out of the August 11th debate could be improved standing prior to the August 13th Ames Straw Poll. To put that in perspective, here is a report from KCCI CBS in Des Moines, Iowa:

We’ll post any breaking debate information when we have it including a confirmed participant list. We might not have that until a couple days before given the late deadline candidates have been afforded to qualify for the debate.

Nate Ashworth is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Election Central. He's been blogging elections and politics for almost a decade. He started covering the 2008 Presidential Election which turned into a full-time political blog in 2012 and 2016.

9 COMMENTS

I think the classiest thing that Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Jon Huntsman could do is to band together and each, in turn, say, “We’ve realized that Ron Paul is the right man for this job, and so we’ve decided that, for the good of America, we’ll withdraw from the campaign and throw our support behind Ron Paul.”

I knew the minute I heard Roemer interviewed by Van Susterin and he said the “representatives” were all bought and paid for clowns (who went on to prove it once again in the debt ceiling “debate”), that he had no chance of being heard during one of the phony debates. We have Cain, Santorum ad nauseum…what an absolute joke our system has become!

Whats so wrong with Ron Paul winning? He has never voted to raise the debt ceiling and also never voted to raise taxes. He is a strict constitutionalist and is for smaller government. It seems the only reason to be against Ron Paul is if you are apart of the establishment. Go Ron Paul 2012!!!